Flash Forward : or was Five's sci-fi sensation slow motion?
Well, it's here.
The huge hype surrounding Five's new sci-fi import, Flash Forward, was always going to be tough to live up to.
The new Lost, they called it.
Hmm...
It looked great and the premise is fascinating.
But, God almighty, it was slow. As in s-l-o-o-o-w.
Everyone in the world blacked out for just over two minutes, during which each had a glimpse six months into the future.
The ensuing death, devastation and chaos was well handled.
Trouble is, setting the scene then seemed to take six months.
Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), the obligatory troubled FBI agent (he's a recovering alcoholic), pulled all the right faces: surprise, bemusement determination.
But you do have to wonder if the producers really wanted Nic Cage.
Sidekick Demetri Noh (John Cho) - who we last saw as young Sulu in J J Abrams' Star Trek re-invention - was a little one-dimensional.
The fact that he saw nothing during his blackout suggests he should be wearing the red jersey of the away team, so nothing lost there then.
Olivia Benford (Sonja Walger) - the wife of Mark, saw herself cavorting with another bloke during her flashforward.
Clearly she's not as willing to wait as she was as Penny Widmore in Lost ...
After all the snail-like storytelling, my main quibble was the speed with which Benford intuitively realised he had seen his own future.
That was a leap of faith speedier even than Robert Langdon's Da Vinci Code cracking.
It was convenient, too, that of all the CCTV cameras in the world, the team just happened to spot those few seconds in the Detroit sports arena that provided the final twist.
But, oh, what a twist. For that moment alone, I can forgive all Flash Forward's tedious trespasses and, yes, I'll be watching next week.
I also want to know where that damn kangaroo came from.
Now if it had been a polar bear, I'd have taken that as read, along with all the other Losties out there.
Older/Newer
« Scream is back... 'he's behind you' - again, god help us! | The worst sci-fi movies ever - not to be missed! »
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Flash Forward : or was Five's sci-fi sensation slow motion?.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.sundaymercury.net/cgi-bin/mt421/mt-tb.cgi/151881
3 Comments
Leave a comment
Authors
Paul Cole - Paul Cole - Lost, Torchwood, Sci-fi, Dr Who and anything worth getting the Anorak on for
Steve Wollaston - Wookie-loving Star Wars fanatic with a love of all things Dharma and sci-fi. Our resident You-Tube trawler.
Daniel Smith - Would-be scientist who can't add up. Believes Sisko is the best captain and Ronald D Moore is some sort of god.
Scully - Roving geek, with interests ranging from comics and sci fi to genre shows you may not have heard of yet, via John Cena (guilty pleasure). She wants to believe Lost is going to end well, but people do consider her a skeptic...
I agree it could have been better.
Not sure if it will ever get as wacky as Lost - is thata good thing or a bad thing?
This looks a bit more 24ish to me.
Can't say I agree. FF was a real rollercoaster - providing an interesting na dwell-paced opening episode with a real hook at the end.
As for the pace, surely Lost is the slowest show around, hindered by a confessed lack of writing direction?
As for FF, the continual introduction of characters was almost Heroes-eque but with the seeds of an original plotline at last.
Hopefully they can maintain those high standards...
Thank you for the interesting information.